Dylan's Journey
by Chunks21
Summary: *Post Nevermore* Not a Dax or Fax Fanfic After Fang had returned and Max and him were together Dylan's whole existence has been challenged. She was his reason for living. There was only one man standing in his way of happiness and he would have to do whatever it takes to get rid of it. Even if you're not a Dylan fan, please read and review :
1. The Decision

**Post ****Nevemore**

Dylan crouched on the edge of one of the cliffs of the small island oasis looking out at the sparkling ocean. The sun just began to rise and the pink and gold morning light danced across the waves of the sea. This was where he had been spending most of his time now.

Now that Max had _Fang_ back. Dylan grimaced at just the thought of the dark eyed bird kid.

After everything he did to her, after all the pain he caused her and the flock. After every tear Dylan saw fall from Max's eyes because of him; Fang just sauntered back into her life like nothing happened. Max took him back just like that.

It actually caused Dylan physical pain in his chest just thinking about it. How Max looked at him when he came in the door looking disheveled and broken.

Now they were just two little lovebirds, oblivious to anything but each other. Dylan couldn't blame Angel for kicking them out of the flock two years ago.

He clouded her judgment and she foolishly trusted his.

Had Max actually been capable of thinking on her own without Fang; she wouldn't have been almost killed by that tidal wave that who else but _Dylan _saved her from.

Now Dylan only really spoke to Iggy, who had always been kind to him. Iggy didn't care about Max's feelings or love life. He only cared about surviving and being with Ella. Now that he had done both he was friendly to Dylan.

Dylan and Gazzy had actually formed their own friendship on the basis of Dylan loving science and Gazzy loving … explosions. Dylan had been teaching Gazzy a lot about interactions between different chemicals that would cause bigger and more powerful explosions.

However, even those two friendships and the few friendships he had formed with the other bird kids did very little to ease the pain he felt. Max didn't look at him the same anymore, or at all for that matter.

Dylan had felt like a tissue for Max to cry on while Fang was away, flirting with her clone and having a flock of his own. While Dylan tried to pick up the pieces and heal this broken heart.

Now he was alone. But his thoughts were never without her.

She was in his DNA. In his soul. In his mind. Forever.

Dylan stood up feeling tears sting his eyes. He picked up a rock and threw it several hundred yards in frustration.

Dylan snapped out his chocolate brown wings and took long ragged breaths.

He had to find him. He had to talk to him. He might even have to kill him. But whatever he did. He needed to end this eternal longing and suffering over Max. And _he_ was the only way Dylan could see ending this.


	2. Preparations

Dylan flew back to his tree house with determined speed. He landed swiftly on the small wooden porch of his house and grabbed the doorknob.

"Dylan!" a small voice yelled from the distance, which made Dylan jump.

He turned to see Gazzy flying erratically towards him with a cardboard box in his hands.

Dylan relaxed himself and let go of the doorknob.

"Hey Gasman, what's up?" He tried to sound as collected as possible. He knew he could tell no one of his plan. Especially not a member of Max's flock.

Gazzy landed clumsily on Dylan's porch with a wide grin on his face. In the box he was carrying Dylan could see several thick books that looked fairly aged.

"I found a bunch of these science books for us to look at!" Gazzy said rummaging through the cardboard box.

"Look!" Gazzy exclaimed as he pulled out a book with a red cover reading _Pyrotechnics & Combustions__. _

"I thought we could read some of them and do some experiments on the other side of the island," Gazzy's smile made Dylan feel even worse about his plans.

Dylan knelt down to meet Gazzy eye to eye. Turquoise eyes meeting Baby Blues. Dylan smiled his signature 1000-watt smile.

"I'm going to take a little field trip," Dylan said. "So save them for me until I get back."

Gazzy looked at him confused and a bit hurt.

"Where are you going?" He asked softly.

"Gazzy, I just need to get away for a few days. Its not you, its…" Dylan didn't have to finish.

Gazzy lifted one small pale hand, "I understand."

Gazzy looked down at his feet and ran his hand through his blonde spikes.

"Just make sure you come back okay? Because you're the only one who really wants to play with me anymore. Nudge and Angel have a bunch of friends who are girls, Iggy has Ella, Max and Fang have each other. You're the only one who makes things explode with me and you don't yell at me if I burn one of my eyebrows off."

Gazzy smiled a devilish smile at Dylan at the memory of when they built a firecracker and some sparks singed a few hairs on Gazzy's left brow.

Dylan chuckled, "I'd never tell you what to do."

Dylan playfully messed up Gazzy's hair, "and you know you're the only one I've got too."

Both blue eyed blondes shared a look of compassion for each other. Gazzy would never truly understand Dylan's suffering and surely his loneliness would never compete with Dylan's, but at least he could say he had an idea.

"Here take this with you to read," Gazzy handed him the book.

Dylan took the book and thumbed through the pages quickly.

"I will, and we can try some experiments when I get back," but in the back of Dylan's head was the thought was, '_If I get back. Alive.'_

"Okay cool!" Gazzy smiled from ear to ear.

"Take care of yourself, Gaz." Dylan said as he opened the door to his tree house.

"And don't tell _you-know-who_ that I'm leaving," Dylan could feel a knot forming in his throat. Not at the thought of leaving, but the thought that Max wouldn't even notice his absence.

Gazzy saluted Dylan and picked up his cardboard box.

"Your secret is safe with me!" and with that Gazzy turned on a dime and leapt off the balcony and flew towards his own tree house.

Dylan ran into the house, locking the door behind him. He threw his blue dress shirt on the chair by his door leaving him in his white t-shirt and clean blue jeans.

He ran into his room, which was a large room with high ceilings, and a skylight, which also acted as an alternate exit. Dylan opened his draws and rummaged through them frantically. He grabbed 2 extra t-shirts, another pair of jeans, pajama bottoms, 2 pairs of boxers, socks and a black hoodie.

He checked his watch, it wasn't even 7 AM yet so he knew he have at least 2 hours to bust out of here before the rest of the kids woke up.

Dylan threw all his clothes on his bed and jogged over to his closet. Mr. Pierpont made sure to stock all the bird-kids' houses with supplies. So Dylan had no trouble finding a backpack, flashlight, matches, rope and other materials he would need for his trip.

Dylan took all his clothes and shoved them into his bag along with his other supplies. He pulled the dark hoodie over his head and snapped his wings out through the slits in the back of the hoodie.

With a few powerful strokes of his large chocolate wings he elevated up to the skylight and opened it. He flew out quickly, landing stealthily on the roof just as the morning sun began to rise over the trees.

Before Dylan's journey began. He needed to find someone; someone who could give him general directions. He needed Jeb.


	3. The Departure

Dylan crept silently around the corner of the small hospital like building where Jeb was being kept. It was a large building, one story with the outer walls made of light sandstone.

Outside the door to Jeb's room stood one guard. Dylan's hands curled into fists as he readied himself.

In one quick action he had leapt forward and hit 2 key pressure points in the guard's back and neck, causing him to crumple to the ground without even seeing Dylan.

Dylan knelt down and removed the small grey plastic chip from the guard's belt. This was the key to every room in the building.

Dylan turned and held the chip out over the sensor, one beep and the light turned green and he pulled the door open and slipped inside silently.

The room was lit like a traditional lab, and in the middle of the room was Jeb with one wrist strapped to his bed.

"Dylan?" Jeb was stunned to see him here. He was stunned to see any of the kids to be honest.

"This isn't a visit to see how you're doing," Dylan said in a low voice as he strode across the room to stand beside Jeb's bed.

"I need answers." Dylan said icily.

Jeb stared at him, the perfect creation, and yet so much failure. Not with Dylan but with his heart.

"What kind of answers," Jeb tried to sound as if they were both equals but Jeb knew Dylan was a super soldier, not to be trifled with.

"Where is Dr. Gunther-Hagen? Is he alive? I need to find him" Dylan was stone cold serious and Jeb could tell.

"Yes," Jeb began slowly, "I believe he is alive, I don't know his exact location but I do know there is an island base in Hawaii that he has another lab in. He might be hiding out there until the, uhm, sickness… has run its course."

Dylan felt his stomach turn.

"If he's not there … where else would he be?"

Jeb studied Dylan carefully, "Just what is that you need from Dr. Gunther-Hagen any way?"

Dylan leaned in closer to Jeb.

"I need to know why I was created to be the perfect other half for a girl who dumped me for some skinny-goth kid the second she had a chance to. I need him to get her out of my head. Forever."

Dylan said each word with clear emotion so Jeb fully understood what he was looking for.

Jeb, with his free hand, stroked his growing gray stubble.

"I'm not sure what he could do for you, or what he would even do to you if he could alter your desire for Maximum. But I'm sure you'll … _convince _him to try." He said and then adjusted his glasses. "He should be in Hawaii, the island of Kauai if my memory serves correct. You should be able to find him in a small lab in the canyons. There is an above ground entrance but the facility is mostly underground. You'll be able to find it, or they'll find you."

Dylan stood rigidly, calculating how long the flight would be and a clear ocean flight would be tiring, with nowhere to stop.

"Thank you," Dylan said as he turned away towards the door, "maybe I'll be a bird of a different feather when I see you next!"

Jeb just waved goodbye. A part of him was happy to see Dylan acting as his own person even though he never truly could be. But Jeb had faith in his good friend Hans that he could some how get Max out of Dylan's head.

Dylan snuck into the kitchen area and grabbed 3 water bottles and 2 boxes of chocolate chip Quaker's granola bars and a few sticks of Beef Jerky. After shoving the food into his backpack, he bulleted away from the main area and snapped out his wings and soared into the morning sky. No one was out yet; he doubted anyone would even be awake yet.

So Dylan cleared his head and checked his internal GPS, it would be mostly a straight fly north and once he found Hawaii he'd head to the most western of the islands.

Dylan put on his backpack, facing the front of his body of course, and soared. Nothing felt better. The wind whipping through his golden hair, sun on his wings and the sky around him. The only thing missing was … _Max._

Dylan shook his head. No. He wouldn't have to think about her much longer. Hans would fix this. Or else… well Dylan had no or else. It was either a life without Max or not life at all.


	4. Where is Wonder Boy?

Iggy stood in the large outdoor kitchen overlooking the picnic area and continued to flip pancakes on the large stainless steel griddle. Ella stood beside him smiling and frying scrambled eggs in a large frying pan.

Occasionally Iggy would lean down and kiss her on the top of the head. It had been just the two of them since a 7:45. Ella and Iggy were always the first to wake up, well next to Dr. Martinez that is. So the two of them took it upon themselves to make breakfast for everyone in the morning.

"Morning!" Nudge greeted them as she walked over to the kitchen hut.

"Good morning, Nudge!" Ella chirped as she emptied the frying pan into an aluminum tin full of scrambled eggs.

"Morning," Iggy said dolloping more pancake batter onto the griddle.

"I'm going to go wake up Angel and Widow," Nudge spread out her wings and grabbed a piece of still hot bacon from one of the serving plates on the counter.

"I saw Gazzy already, he was up at the crack of dawn. Max and Fang are still … sleeping," Nudge smirked.

"Where's wonder boy?" Iggy asked looking in Nudge's direction.

Nudge stopped chewing and thought hard.

"I … I haven't seen him?" She sounded unsure.

"Maybe he's still sleeping," Ella suggested.

Iggy and Nudge shrugged, it wasn't like Dylan to sleep in late. Dylan had been very reserved lately but Iggy would just have to wait for breakfast. Dylan always came to eat with the flock.

"Alright, well I'll see you when breakfast is ready!" Nudge called and shot out her deep caramel colored wings and took off into the skies.

"You think Dylan is okay?" Ella said coming to stand close to Iggy's side.

He wrapped his long skinny arm around her, "I'm sure he's fine. Probably just locked up in his room reading some science text book with Gazzy."

"Okay," Ella gave him a quick squeeze and then went back to helping him cook dinner.

Max rubbed her hair dry with a towel as she walked back into her room. Fang was lying on her bed with his night black wings slightly spread, no shirt, and now worries.

"Morning sunshine," Fang smirked seductively.

"Morning," Max smiled and tossed her towel at the hamper and shook the rest of the water from her hair.

She felt good wearing a nice clean pair of tan shorts and a white t-shirt, which would probably be filthy by noon. Max strode over and took a seat at the end of her bed opposite Fang.

"Are you going to take a shower before we go to breakfast?" she asked.

Fang ran a hand through his thick, jet-black hair.

"Wasn't planning on it, why? Suggesting I need one?" he raised a thick black brow.

Max rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Then put a clean shirt on at least," she walked over to her dresser, which her and Fang now shared.

She opened one of the wooden draws of the dresser and took out a clean black t-shirt with holes for his wings in the back; they were made custom for the flock.

Fang came up behind Max and kissed her neck before snatching the black t-shirt from her hands.

Max stepped away and stood in the doorway as she watched Fang slip the shirt over his thin, lean muscled torso. He was no Calvin Klein model but after years of butt-kicking and now with full access to food, Fang had beefed up, for a bird kid at least. Well for a normal bird kid, Dylan being the only exception. Physically Dylan had more muscle, he had grown up with food, water, and everything he needed. It wasn't a surprise to see how much healthier he looked compared to flock.

Max shuddered at the thought of her memories with Dylan. It's not that she didn't really start to like Dylan … it would just never be the same as her with Fang.

"Ready?" Max asked bringing herself back to the present.

"Yup," Fang took her hand in his and the two of them headed off to breakfast.

"Good morning, Max," Angel smiled at the two of them as the walked over to the picnic area.

"Fang," Angel smiled at him and Fang nodded and took a seat at the head of the table next to Max.

Max stared at their table and the several other bird kids of different flocks that sat at the other wooden picnic tables around them. On the right side of the table sat; Angel, Nudge, and their dark haired green-eyed friend; Widow. Widow was a cute 12-year-old girl with light toffee colored wings and just like Nudge she was really into fashion and all that other girly stuff Max stayed far away from.

Iggy and Ella sat on the left side of the table along with Gazzy who was wolfing down pancakes while syrup dripped down his chin.

Max looked around the table once more as Fang laced his fingers between hers. Max's brow furrowed as she noticed the one thing missing from the table.

"Where … where is Dylan?" Max asked uneasily.

Fang went rigid beside her.

Iggy shot her a look of confusion and then looked to Nudge. Nudge shrugged her shoulders and everyone looked to Angel.

"I don't know where he is?" She said wiping her mouth with a napkin.

Max shot a glance over to Gazzy who, miraculously, stopped eating and was now staring nervously down at his plate.

"Gazzy," Max said slowly and his gaze flickered from her face back down to his food.

Now all eyes were on Gazzy and he started nervously tapping his fingers on the table.

Gazzy could handle being interrogated by white coats, bad guys, Erasers, weirdoes with accents… but being questioned by the flock was much more nerve racking to him.

Knowing Angel would likely be scanning his thoughts Gazzy tried to ignore every memory from this morning.

"Do you know where Dylan is," Max asked clearly agitated.

"I uhm… no. He's probably in the library or something looking for some books for us to read. You know, like science stuff," Gazzy smiled weakly, clearly not fooling Max.

"Angel," Max said still staring hard at Gazzy.

Gazzy began to shut his mind down, "_Think of things that are gross, farts, boogers, spiders…_"

"He's trying to gross me out of his head."

Then Gazzy's thoughts faltered and Angel was able to see Gazzy's memory of Dylan's news.

"Where is he going?" Angel asked him.

"I don't know!" Gazzy shouted with sincerity.

"Who cares anyway," Fang said with a roll of his coal black eyes. "He wasn't even a real member of the flock anyway."

No one spoke a word, the silence made Fang look back at them to see that not everyone felt the same way. He was almost afraid to look at Max to see her reaction.

"If he tried to kill you once," Max said slowly turning her gaze to Fang. "He might be trying to find a way to kill you again."

Fang snarled and looked down at his hands, which were now curled into white-knuckled fists.

"Iggy, Ella," Max began ordering like her old bossy self; "You two go check and see if any of the other kids have seen him. Angel, you come with me to search Dylan's tree house. Nudge, Gazzy, Fang you guys help Iggy and Ella."

Everyone rose from the table and into action; Fang hesitated but quickly followed Iggy and Ella over to the other tables.

Angel spread her wings and stood beside Max, ready to take off.

"You know Dylan isn't hostile towards Fang anymore, right?" Angel asked cautiously.

Max took a deep breath and nodded.

"Yeah I know, I just want to know why he would leave. Why now? Where is he going?"

The two exchanged a curious look before jumping off the ground heading towards Dylan's tree house.


	5. Arrival

Dylan landed on the sandy southern shore of the island of Kauai completely exhausted from his incredibly long journey. It wasn't until he landed here and when he stopped soaring through the sky, which had now turned shades of pink and orange as the sun began its descent, that he realized how hot it truly was. The only relief to the humid island heat was the strong breeze that gusted from the ocean.

Dylan monitored his surroundings; he stood on a beach where gentle waves lapped at the fine sand. From the sky he saw a hotel shaped building but now that he was on the ground he could see that the building had been ravished by fire, the outside covered in ash like a chimney that had been turned inside out. The building still stood but much of it was melted and he could see the windows had all been broken. He doubted that anyone now lived there. It gave him very little hope for the rest of the island.

With the horror of the hotel behind him Dylan he looked elsewhere on the beach. To his right he could see a large rocky cliff that jutted out, it seemed like the perfect place for a Lighthouse had someone cleared the dense trees on the cliff. He decided to just make camp on the beach for the night, it would be safer than any dangerous animals (if any were alive) that may be living in the forest trees and along the floor.

"Fire, I'll need that first" Dylan began to think of all the knowledge of survival he's obtained; between the books he read on edible plants and herbs and by also watching shows like Man Vs. Wild and Survivor Man while the flock had been living in Oregon.

Dylan set down his backpack on the sandy and pulled his hoodie off, tossing it on top of the backpack. He walked into the trees where the sand ended and the thick short beach grass began. Along the forest floor were several twigs that Dylan snapped in half to test how dry they were. After collecting an arm full of tinder wood, which he dropped down near his pack, he then began to pick up his pace as the sky began to turn purple and pink and the sun was fading down the horizon.

With the matches in his back pocket and several larger pieces of dried out beach wood Dylan dug a shallow hole in the sand and made a tent shape out of the twigs. In the middle of the tent of twigs he shoved some dead tree bark that would quickly ignite and hold a flame.

Waiting until the breeze died down he turned his back to the wind and lit one of the 18 matches he had brought with him. The small flame was enough to light the twigs and tinder. Once the flame began to grow Dylan carefully placed larger sticks into the fire.

The little smoke that came from the crackling fire would keep the bugs at bay, which he would need since he had forgotten to bring bug repellent. The fire itself would keep away any larger animals, which made him feel safe as he lay down on his sweatshirt, using his backpack as a pillow. Dylan withdrew one of the water bottles and two granola bars from his pack.

Luke warm water and granola bars seemed like a step down from Iggy's cooking and fresh, cold water bottles that he was used to back at the island. Now, however, he was happy to have any sustenance at all. He unwrapped one of the granola bars and stared out at the ocean, the little light left from the fading sun danced over the waves out in the vast ocean in front of him.

Behind him in the trees he could hear all the animals and bugs singing in the night as if it were an orchestra in the jungle. Lying back and taking a bite of the granola bar he gazed up at the night sky. He mapped each constellation he could see. Then his stomach dropped as he reminisced of when he and Max sat out under the stars in a cave in the desert. The first time he slept near her, and she actually seemed to be growing fond of him then.

Dylan shut his eyes tight and took deep calming breaths. The pain was unbearable, and unknown to anyone. Max would never understand the toll her decision had made on Dylan. How he'd all but cry himself to sleep each night knowing his very existence and reason for life had chosen another guy.

Waves gently crashed onto the sand while he basked in the soothing ocean sounds. Now the moon was up and the waxing crescent shined bright in the deep blue sky. The thought of a night flight entered Dylan's head. He realized he could see any kind of lights that might be sign of life somewhere. They might help him find Hans come morning.

Dylan stood up from his warm spot in the sand and picked up his sweatshirt. The gentle wind blew through his long hair as he nudged another piece of firewood into the flame with his foot. He quickly pulled the hoodie over his head and snapped his wings out through the back. Running along the sand he took off into the night sky. The light from his fire faded as he rose gracefully into the air.

Whopping powerful wing strokes lifted him higher as he got a clearer view of the island. The moon was the only light to the island from what his ultra-hyper eyesight could detect. Through the trees he could see no light at all, and in the canyon it was pitch black and ominous. Dylan floated in the air, his wings gently held him as he rose and fell a few inches with each stroke, he surveyed a full 360 view of the island. The only light he could detect was from his own fire.

"Always the clever doctor," Dylan gritted his teeth. He should have known better than to think that Hans would have a big light up sign that said; "Hey! Here I am, one of the only humans still alive! Come and get me!"

Still, the flight did clear his head and Dylan just expanded his wings and let the wind current carry him as he descended. It felt refreshing; the cool air the gusted through his thick honey blonde hair and ruffled through his feathers.

Dylan removed his hoodie again and laid it down flat on the sand again. He returned to his spot in front of his now blazing fire and behind him he let his wings relax into the cool sand.

Both physically and mentally exhausted, sleep came as a sweet relief to Dylan. His entire body melted in front of the fire and into the sand like a Popsicle in the sun as his muscles relaxed and his brain began to slow down. Waves that crashed and then pulled back into the ocean, and the sounds of the creatures that sang in the forest seemed to only help lull Dylan to sleep. And just like that, under the stars and in the sand he slept soundly; alone and peaceful…


	6. The Doctor

"Hey!" A deep voice in an English accent barked at Dylan's sleeping body.

Dylan's whole body bolted awake as he flipped onto his back in a flash to look up at the one who awoke him. Two boys stood over him, one on each side of him, one boy looked around Dylan's age and the other looked a few years older.

"What's you're name," said the older looking one in a low powerful voice, Dylan now recognized was the one with the accent.

"Dylan," he said warily as he planned an attack in his head.

"I told you it was him," the other boy said in a Columbian accent. This boy looked Dylan's age but that was the only physical similarity they had. The boy had tan skin and deep brown eyes with an unusual yellowish ring around his iris. His hair was black and shaved into a Mohawk with the rest of his hair fading from the Mohawk.

"Alright," the English one said glaring at him.

"Hans has been expecting you," he told Dylan.

Dylan's jaw dropped, so Hans was alive, and he was here.

"I'd recommend getting up, because you sure don't want Lucian to have to get you up," the one with the Columbian spoke to him.

The one, Lucian apparently, stared at Dylan as he steadily rose from the ground.

"We aren't going to handcuff you," Lucian said staring down at Dylan. "Because that would mean having to carry you and I'm in no mood to do that."

"Don't worry, I'm not interested in running. I want to see Hans just as much as I'm sure he wants to see me." Dylan stared at Lucian; he was an inch or two taller, which was impressive to Dylan who already stood at 6'5. Lucian had lean muscles like Dylan, it seemed he had access to food unlike Max's flock. His eyes were bright green and his short choppy hair was a light coffee color with natural highlights. Overall he was just like Dylan; handsome as a model and appeared to be just as lethal as Dylan was.

Much to Dylan's surprise Lucian snapped out his wings, 17 feet across and feathers that faded from dark brown at the top to a deep cream color on the tips but speckled in the middle. Behind him Dylan heard more wings ruffle as he turned to see the Columbian boy with brightly colored wings that resembled a Macaws. They were deep red, green and turquoise. Dylan had never seen wings like his; they were shorter than Lucians maybe even shorter than Dylan's but looked powerful.

"After you, Blondie." Lucian mocked.

Dylan leered at him but picked up his backpack and hoodie and took off. Running across the sand before launching into the cool morning air with the two other Avians not far behind. Lucian sped past Dylan and took the lead while the other boy followed behind Dylan, likely to make sure he didn't try to escape.

In a single file line they flew over the beautiful canyons that carved Kauai. Dylan admired the scenery as he watched several hawks off in the distance flying over the canyon. Ahead of him Lucian whistled to Dylan and nodded his head to the right. Lucian began to tilt and fly east and in the distance Dylan could see a small hut and could distinctly make out 3 other bodies.

Soaring over the rock and trees the three made their way down to the hut. Outside the hut Dylan could now make out the 3 figures, all 3 had their backs to him but he could see that there were 2 girls and the other was a guy.

"Covin!" Lucian yelled as he landed, making dust cloud up around his feet.

Dylan landed a few seconds after him as the one named Covin turned around. Covin had the same face as Lucian, they were twins and even their wings were identical. Their hair however was different; Covin had dark brown but the same short messy haircut as his brother.

"This is him," Lucian said pointing back to Dylan. "That's the Dylan guy Hans had mentioned."

Covin strode over to Dylan looking him up and down as he walked.

"Ramone," he said still staring at Dylan. "Go tell Hans that Dylan is with us and ask him what he wants us to do with him."

Ramone, the Columbian boy, nodded and walked off into the hut and quickly shut the door behind him.

Dylan examined the two girls; one of the girls had long blonde wavy hair and bright hazel eyes. She was beautiful, the kind of beautiful that other girls would strive for. Dylan knew that if she were a normal human she would have been a model or an actress, and she'd be the idol of girls everywhere. But she wasn't normal because from out of the back of her short black jacket were a pair of snow-white wings. Much like Dylan she had perfectly tanned skin, but he guessed that hers was from being out in the Hawaiian sun.

The other girl, a few inches shorter than the blonde, had shoulder length black hair, fair skin with no blemishes or freckles and bright blue eyes the color of the sky. Behind her he could see her dark gray wings with black tips and lighter colored speckles.

All the time Covin and Lucian stared at him, scrutinizing like two lions staring down a cheetah on the savannah. They knew they belonged in the same family but would likely have nothing more in common.

Everyone turned when the door of the hut opened and Hans stepped out into the light.

A huge smile spread across his face, "Dylan!"

Dylan wasn't sure how to react, so he didn't he stared at Hans with no emotion.

"You've come back," Hans said as he closed the space between them.

"I'm not here because I missed you Hans," Dylan spoke to him in a cold distant voice. "I'm here because I need you to reverse whatever curse you've put on me."

Dylan almost growled the last sentence and Hans' face twisted in hurt and confusion.

The other bird kids had now gathered in a line behind Hans, a line of spectators looking on attentively with both interest and confusion.

"What curse?" Hans asked softly. To him Dylan was one of his most perfect creations. Just like the other kids that stood behind him now, Dylan was a success. He was created for an even higher purpose than the other children.

Anger began to rise in Dylan and he leaned in closer to Hans' face. In a fierce, low tone Dylan spoke to him, "The curse of hopelessly loving a girl who chose an unfaithful Goth boy over me. I want her out of my head, my heart, my brain! Wherever she is I want her gone!"

Dylan was taking shallow ragged breaths and Hans stared at him in shock.

"I'm sorry Dylan but-"

Dylan never let him finished, he grabbed the doctor by the collar of off-white dress shirt he was wearing and the other kids readied themselves to attack. Hans lifted his hand and they unwillingly stepped down. Except for the twins, they stared at Dylan with fire in their eyes, wishing desperately to be allowed to charge.

Sweat began to bead up on the doctor's forehead as he swallowed hard and stared at Dylan who had never looked at him so intense and animalistic.

"But nothing," Dylan snarled, "I know you're capable of getting her out of my head. You put her in there; you can damn well take her out. Because if I can't live with her then I won't live at all."

Hans stared at him with new eyes; he never realized how much of a disaster he had set up for Dylan when he programmed his brain to love Max.

"Okay, I will do everything I can to relieve your suffering my child. Just please, relax."

Dylan let go of the doctor who then fixed his shirt and nodded vigorously.

"Let's go inside shall we," Hans clapped his hands together and headed for the door that Covin held open. Hans and the other kids went inside first, Dylan trailed behind and before he entered the hut Covin grabbed his shirt by the sleeve and pulled over.

Blue eyes met green eyes as blazing as the rainforest.

"I just want to let you know that I'll break your hands if you ever grab my father like that again."

Dylan's mouth fell open and his heart nearly stopped. Covin and Lucian… were Hans' children.


	7. Why We Were Created

"Dylan, I must go down to my lab. I have to retrieve your file so that I may better plan a way to fix your … _problem._"

Hans said in a soothing voice as the kids entered the lobby underneath the hut. The grassy, modest exterior was a complete deception of the inside of the hut. It was perfectly clean and modern; a small kitchen was really the only thing in the hut and what appeared to be a closet. _Appeared_.

The 'closet' was really a passageway to a long flight of stairs that led to the main lobby where everyone was currently gathered. The lobby was a large room with gray walls and green-gray linoleum tiles made up the floor. The lobby branched off into 3 separate hallways but the lobby itself was set up as a lounge. There was a long rectangular couch made of white leather. Several other nice chairs surrounded a coffee table made of blackened wood.

Dylan sat in one of the chairs surrounding the coffee table, Ramone and the blonde girl sat next to him. The girl with the dark hair sat across the table from him and the twins stood beside her glaring at Dylan with predatory eyes.

"And boys," Hans began before leaving the room, "Be polite."

Hans then began walking down the hallway furthest to the left. The twins watched him walk down it all the while and then once he was out of sight they leered hard at Dylan once more before turning and striding down the middle hallway.

"What's their problem?" Dylan asked to no one in particular.

"They're just jealous, Hans has been talking about you so much and then … well you did also put your hands on him so they might also be peeved over that," the dark haired girl said.

"I'm Alex by the way," she reached out her arm across the table and offered her small hand to Dylan.

Dylan shook her hand with a small smile.

"Pleasure to meet you Alex," he said.

"Can I get you anything? Food, water or something like that?"

Dylan stared at her, shocked almost by her hospitality.

"Water would be great if it's not too much trouble," Dylan asked awkwardly. He'd wondered if she was being nice to him solely for the reason he was attractive or if it was because he was just like her, a bird-kid.

"It's no trouble at all," she smiled sweetly. Alex had a sweet round face and beautiful soft features. Something about her reminded him of girls from the 50s that he's seen in books he read, he could tell she had an old soul to her.

Alex then walked off down the hall to the far right.

"I'm Sophia by the way," the blonde finally spoke in a sweet voice. Just like Alex she was the only one who had an American accent.

"Don't mind Alex, she can't help but have over powering maternal instincts. Literally, she can't help it," Sophia looked at Dylan warmly.

"What do you mean?" He asked quizzically.

Ramone finally spoke up from the corner, "It's in her blood. Just like love is in your blood, Alex was created to be a mother. She only knows how to love and care for people. We were all created for something, Dr. Hans wanted to perfect the idea of making Human-Avian beings."

Dylan stared at him, his brain was trying to process all this. He knew Hans had a God-complex but now he saw how bad it really was. Hans didn't just want to make bird-kids. He wanted to make perfect bird kids.

"Just take Sophie for example," Ramone purred in his thick Columbian accent.

Sophia smiled humbly at the ground and tucked a thick wave of her blonde hair behind her ear.

"What does he mean," Dylan asked staring at her. He wondered if she had been created like him to simply be beautiful and destined for someone else.

"I have Precognition, I can see the future" Sophia said as if that were something to just shrug ones shoulders at.

Dylan stared at her bewildered and she giggled at his astonishment.

"And I can replicate peoples' voices," Sophia's voice said the words but they came from Ramone's mouth and Dylan spun his head around to look at him.

"I can also speak 27 languages and can learn another one any day I'd like," Ramone said in his voice now.

A smile spread across Dylan's face, each one of them had an amazing reason and power. It made Dylan feel completely … ordinary.

"The twins have a power that supersedes all of ours," Sophia said modestly.

"They can teleport," Ramone said waggling his brows.

"What?!" Dylan's jaw nearly hit the floor as his mind tried to process that.

"It's quite impressive actually, they can move their own body matter wherever they want. It has to be to a place they've already been though. So the boys can't teleport just anywhere, only places they know in their mind. They have to know where to redirect their matter," Sophia informed Dylan who hung on her every word like a child listening to his teacher.

"Wow," he sighed as Alex returned into the room with a glass of water and bowl of Chex Mix.

"Here you go," she handed him the cold glass of water where condensation slicked the outside of the glass like cold sweat.

Alex placed the snack bowl on the table and took a seat across from them.

"I hope you guys aren't scaring him," Alex smiled at her fellow flock members. She had a sugary southern accent that just made Dylan think of the old "Southern-hospitality" phrase.

"No, no," Ramone hummed, "we were just telling Dylan of our…" Ramone waved his hand in the air looking for the right word.

"Gifts!" He finally decided would be the best way to put their abilities in layman's terms.

"Sorry," Alex smiled, "my _gift_ isn't quite as exciting as the others'."

"No," Dylan disagreed with a heartfelt grin.

"It's quite beautiful actually! I think I've got the lamest _gift_ of all. Although I'd sooner call mine a curse," Dylan hung his head and stared at his sizable hands.

Alex reached over the table and touched Dylan's face with her soft warm hands like a mother comforting her youngest child.

"Hans will fix it, you're his child just as much as we are and he won't leave you to suffer."

Dylan couldn't help but feel completely comforted by her words; she spoke in such a supportive voice that he would have trusted anything she told him.

Dylan's brows furrowed together as he recalled what Covin had said to him.

"Are we really Hans' children? Biologically, I mean."

Alex shook her head but it was Sophia who answered his inquiry.

"None of us are, the twins on the other hand do share his DNA."

Dylan looked at her still with questioning eyes and she continued.

"Covin and Lucian were Hans first success. He contributed his own DNA to the process of their creation. After that he left them to be raised in the English based laboratory they were created in. Much like your friends Maximum Ride, Alex and I were created in the United States. Hans and another doctor made me; Brian Colby, I believe his name was. Alex is older than me by 7 months and she came from the other US lab in Georgia. Hans kept tabs on all of us and kept the other scientists for taking advantage of us because he saw us as his children. He told them another story; we were his experiments, not to be tampered with by anyone but him. Ramone was the first one us successfully created in South America. He was raised there."

"Hans did do his best to keep us safe. He never interfered with other scientists' experiments well until … Until Jeb began to tell him of how Max was supposed to save the world and lead the rest of the kids of Generation 54. You have no idea how upset this made Hans; he and other scientists had only ever made singular Avians. So because Jeb had created a family of them the other members of the scientific community thought that since Max had experience leading a family she would be best suited to be the leader. Even though she was 3 years younger than any of Hans' children."

Sophia stopped and Ramone took over while Dylan listened alertly.

"You see, Maximum and her flock were designed to adapt whereas Dr. Hans created us with our abilities already in us, we really can't adapt and evolve as well as the others. So it was safe to say that credibility went to Jeb's children and so that's how it was. But Dr. Hans wanted to make sure if none of his children would lead the world, there would be one to help lead the world."

Ramone finished timidly and Dylan's heart sank.

"Me," he spoke softly realizing the truth to his existence.

"Yes," Sophia spoke placing her hand on his back in sympathy.

"You see Dylan, you're special just like us and Hans knew he needed to create a child who would be completely loyal to Maximum. That was the problem with Fang, the others knew that the flock had separated before and Maximum needed to keep the flock together. She needed to lead without loosing any members. So Hans' first priority was making you completely loyal to her, you needed to appeal to her. You just needed to be there to stand beside her when all this happened and be known as the child of Hans who had made it to glory. The glory none of us would see because we were older imperfect experiments."

Dylan's eyes stung with tears. He had been a failure. He was created to be the one to stand on the ashes of the world and help lead it, yet here he was, failed and broken hearted.

"But I'm not standing beside her," he spoke shakily as the tears pooled in his sea blue eyes.

"I'm sitting here, knowing I'm just an unsuccessful experiment who didn't make a difference as he was expected to."

Alex bounded from her chair and sat on the coffee table in front of Dylan and took his hands in hers as the tears fell from his eyes.

"Sweetie, you were made for so much more. Hans can fix this. No one in their right mind should have treated you the way she did. I promise it'll be okay," he looked at her and again there was that complete honesty and sincerity.

He almost wanted to believe her, but he knew he couldn't until Hans had removed the curse of loving Max from him.

"You said you could predict the future right?" Dylan sniffled as he turned his gaze upon Sophia.

Sophia met him eye to eye; her eyes were a beautiful hazel that went from warm toffee around the edges to a cool mint green around her pupils.

"He's working now to figure out a way, I can't give a clear answer until he finds, or doesn't find, the way to fix it."

Dylan's shoulder and hope both fell as he let out a long shaky breath.

At least now he had friends, people to comfort him, people who were almost like stepsiblings to him.

It made his hope for Hans less bleak, that maybe he could fix and repair his broken experiment. His child that had fallen from the greatness he had only just began to rise to, he would raise him back up.

Of this Dylan was sure.


End file.
